Satellite-based communications systems are well are represented in the prior art. By example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,286, issued on Apr. 12, 1994 to Robert A. Wiedeman, and which is entitled "Wireless Telephone/Satellite Roaming System". Reference is also made to the numerous U.S. Patents, foreign patents, and other publications that are of record in U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,286.
Of particular interest to this invention is U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,626, issued Aug. 3, 1993 to Stephen A. Ames and entitled "Repeater Diversity Spread Spectrum Communication System". This patent teaches a repeater diversity spread spectrum communication system that provides substantially fade free communications between a transmitter (1) and a receiver (7). A transmitted signal is relayed through a plurality of linear communications repeaters (3-6) that produce copies of the transmitted signal, the copies each arriving through an independently fading signal path. The transmitter and/or the receiver may be mounted upon a mobile platform, and the plurality of repeaters may be terrestrial or may be provided in satellites in low earth orbit or in geosynchronous earth orbit. The receiver processes the received signal copies to equalize them to one another in delay, frequency, and phase, and then combines the multiple received and equalized signal copies to produce a composite signal having a greatly reduced fading depth.